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Google Earth Elevation Profiles

April 21, 2015

An often overlooked feature of Google Earth, elevation profiles were first introduced in version 5.2. The feature is easy to use, all you need is a path selected in your ‘My Places’ then go to the ‘Edit’ menu and select ‘Show Elevation Profile’.

If you want the elevation profile of a slice through a mountain or valley, simply draw a straight line using the ‘Add Path’ tool on the Google Earth toolbar. But it is not restricted to straight lines and much more often you will be interested in the elevation profile of a hike you are planning, or bicycle route. In this case, you can draw out the path as before, or if it is a route on roads/paths already marked on Google Earth, you can use the Get Directions feature right-click (CTRL click on Mac) on the blue line and select ‘Show Elevation Profile’.


Elevation profile of a route in the Swiss Alps.

If you hold your mouse over the elevation profile, it will show a red arrow on the map marking the location, and also display the height above sea level and gradient at that point.

Keep in mind that Google Earth’s elevation data is not very high resolution and should not be taken as anything more than a rough guide. We also discovered that on the route shown above there were several tunnels and bridges and the route in Google Earth that is used for the elevation profile follows the ground and not the actual road surface resulting in large bumps and dips in the elevation profile.

Tunnel

Bridge

About Timothy Whitehead

Timothy has been using Google Earth since 2004 when it was still called Keyhole before it was renamed Google Earth in 2005 and has been a huge fan ever since. He is a programmer working for Red Wing Aerobatx and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.

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Filed Under: Google Earth Tips Tagged With: elevation

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PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

Comments

  1. Gordon says

    February 1, 2016 at 8:36 pm

    Hello Timothy, thanks for the article. I have used this for a while now, but would liek to know if it is possible to “save place as” and have the elevation data included in a gpx file? I have not been able to do this yet, but thought you might know of a way to make this happen/

    Regards
    Gordon

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      February 2, 2016 at 1:53 pm

      It cannot be extracted directly from Google Earth. Google does provide a Google Maps API to get elevation information: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/elevation-paths

      also see this post:
      http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2015/12/altitudes-polygons-google-earth.html

  2. WR Barnhart says

    February 13, 2016 at 11:16 am

    Using a straight path cross section for Elevation Profile, at some sizes I can get very detailed elevation information, but at full screen, it only gives me very general elevation changes. Is there anyway to “turn” Elevation Profile on so it will always give me the more detailed elevation changes? I am using routes of about 500 km.

  3. Robert Irvin says

    February 25, 2016 at 11:39 pm

    Hi

    There are a number of us out there who are using this feature to plan computer data links. How would I suggest some modification such as how to be able to set point heights at each node and add a straight line between nodes with a measurement ground to line. Currently I use the elevation Profile print it and manually draw the line (on paper or on computer) and make estimates from there. The Altitude Tab gets most of the way but not quite.

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      February 26, 2016 at 5:57 am

      Have you seen this post about fresnel zones? If it doesn’t serve your requirements give me a bit more detail and I will consider doing a JavaScript tool to do the job using the Google Maps Elevation service. Also have a look at the Viewshed tool if you haven’t already.

      • Robert Irvin says

        March 2, 2016 at 1:07 am

        The Fresnel post and tools are a good start however they do not seem to work with Australian location Data. I have left a message with Loxcel to see if the is the case. The Viewshed is not quite what am after. Thanks very much for your post.

      • Robert Irvin says

        March 2, 2016 at 1:56 am

        My bad I had a minus sign in the wrong place. I have what I need Thanks again

  4. roozbeh says

    May 16, 2016 at 1:50 am

    Hi There,

    I remember about 8 years ago I’d measure elevation profiles between two different points for example A and B. And I used to set heights for A end and B end manually to see at what height I’d have line of site between the 2 ends. I’ve not used G earth since then and I’m not sure that feature still is there.
    Can anyone please assist?
    Thanks.

    Roozbeh

  5. Gerardo Perez T. says

    July 20, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    What should I do to get the only average slope ?. I must add positive and negative slope or average them ?. Thank you.

  6. curiousgally says

    August 28, 2016 at 3:27 pm

    Is there a way to see a path between two points with the slightest slopes along the route. I need this to plan a canal between two points A and B. I would like to minimize the use of pumps to push the water up and rather prefer gravity. So a tool that can give me an estimate of canal length for doing the same would help a lot, to try and see the minimum effort necessary. Thanks.

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      August 28, 2016 at 3:57 pm

      See if this post helps. It can draw contours. Keep in mind that the elevation data is not all that accurate so may not be helpful.

  7. Iqnaul Siregar says

    September 22, 2016 at 10:39 pm

    Hi Tim,

    What is the source of elevation data used by Google Earth? Do they extracted it from ASTER GDEM/SRTM or any other data source?

    thank you

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      September 23, 2016 at 4:24 am

      I believe they have a wide variety of sources depending on the location.

  8. SABYASACHI MAITI says

    September 27, 2016 at 4:04 am

    Can I see elevation change with time using Google Earth? For example, for snowy region will there be any difference of elevation between winter and summer?

  9. RichTenn says

    October 26, 2016 at 3:33 am

    Is there any way to get the profile showing height above ground level – not above sea level ?
    Thanks

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      October 26, 2016 at 4:02 am

      Do you have a KML track that has elevations in it?

  10. Butch Kara says

    February 10, 2017 at 5:12 pm

    Google Earth elevation profiles are great – except for the inability (as far as I can tell) to alter the vertical exaggeration. Too much VE can produce a very distorted picture of the terrain. Am i missing something, or do we just have to live with this limitation?

    • Timothy Whitehead says

      February 15, 2017 at 3:59 am

      There is an ‘elevation exaggeration’ setting in ‘Tools->Options->3D View->Terrain’

      • Alice says

        June 13, 2017 at 6:09 pm

        but how do we change the Vertical Scale on the Elevation Profile? the 3D View doesnt alter this

        • Eric says

          July 31, 2017 at 6:41 am

          grab the top of the elevation profile box window and stretch it up or down



PLEASE NOTE: Google Earth Blog is no longer writing regular posts. As a result, we are not accepting new comments or questions about Google Earth. If you have a question, use the official Google Earth and Maps Forums or the Google Earth Community Forums.

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